Superman: Fall From Grace
by Vadakin
Summary: A short tale, based in my Superman Saga universe, about Supermans fall from beloved hero to hated villain.
1. Part 1

Superman stood, his body torn, his arms stretched out on each side and tied to a large titanium platform with synthetic kryptonite wire. Standing below, an angry mob cursed him, shouting profanities and throwing anything they could find at him.

Lois Lane stood watching him, tears falling down her cheeks as she struggled to come to terms with what was happening. Superman's eyes met hers, pleading for some sign of recognition.

"Lois..." Superman whispered, trying to fight the pain he was feeling so he could speak. "Please...I..."

"I hate you." Lois replied, sobbing as she turned her back on him and walked away, disappearing into the crowd as the Mayor of Metropolis stepped on to the platform.

"Kal-El of Krypton, also known as Superman, also known as Clark Kent...by order of the President of the United States of America, you are hereby sentenced to death by kryptonite injection. If you have any last words or if you wish to beg for mercy, now is the time," said the Mayor before standing aside, allowing Superman to speak.

Clearing his throat, coughing up blood in the process, Superman opened his mouth to speak. "I...I only wanted to help..."

"Murderer!" a voice from the crowd shouted, quickly followed by the rest of the crowd. The Mayor nodded his head, signalling to the executioner, who stepped towards the Man of Steel, carrying a large syringe.

"Let the sentence be carried out...and may God have mercy on your soul..."

Jedsithor Presents

SUPERMAN

Fall From Grace

Part 1

Metropolis - 24 hours earlier

Superman flew over the city of Metropolis, tracking a van that had been involved in a bank robbery. Metropolis was in chaos, with the mysterious Intergang committing crimes and inciting violent riots across the city. The Man of Steel was busier than ever, and Clark Kent had been forced to take a leave of absence from the Daily Planet so he could tackle these criminals.

As the van turned towards the freeway, Clark dove down from the sky, flying at speed as he twisted his body to land hard on the ground, extending his hands to catch the van and lift into the air.

"Good morning gentlemen," Clark commented with a grin as the police arrived to take the criminals away.

Across the city, Lois Lane sat in her car, her foot pressed down on the accelerator as she sped through traffic, trying to escape a group of Intergang thugs who had been chasing her, all the way through Metropolis from Suicide Slums to the Hyper Sector.

A bullet came through the back of her car, forcing Lois to duck, taking her eye off the road. Suddenly, the car was moving through the air, flipping as it crashed back down and slid, upside down into the pole of a street lamp, having clipped an oncoming truck.

Superman arrived to see Lois' car upside down, with three Intergang thugs approaching. Landing quickly, Superman blew a strong gust of wind to knock the thugs to the ground before running to the car.

"Lois? Can you hear me?" Superman called out as he pulled the door from his hinges and threw it behind him, his ears barely registering the sound of a crash as he concentrated on pulling Lois from the car, using his heat vision to deflate the air bag.

"Wh--what happened?" Lois asked as she stood up, her head throbbing. Superman was about to answer, but he stopped, noticing that Lois was looking over his shoulder, her eyes widened in horror.

Turning around, Superman saw what she did. A school bus lay on it's side, broken glass from the windows all over the road, smoke and fire rising as it lay against the alley-wall of one of the tall buildings that made up the city's skyline.

As Superman moved to act, the bus exploded in an intense fire ball, forcing onlookers to retreat to a safe distance, the heat threatening to overwhelm them. Using his x-ray vision to scan through the smoke and metal, Superman saw the bodies of a dozen children as well as the bus driver, all of them dead.

"You did this!" One of the onlookers shouted, pointing to Superman, followed by another.

"He's right, I saw you..."

"What are you talking about?" Superman asked, confused and saddened by the deaths of the children.

"You pulled the door off that car and threw it towards the bus. The driver swerved to avoid it and crashed."

Looking around, Superman saw the door, of Lois' car on the road side. He remembered throwing the door of the way, he had heard something...but he had been so intent on saving Lois that he had ignored it.

"I...I didn't mean to..." words failed him as a crowd began to gather and word of what had happened began to spread.

"How could you do this?" a crying voice from the crowd asked, "they were children...and you..."

"You killed them..." another voice cut in, "murderer..."

Clark turned back around to face Lois. Her eyes seemed empty somehow, like she was lost inside herself. She couldn't feel anything, her whole body was numb. Her lips moved but no words came out of her mouth. Lois couldn't look at Clark, she was fixated on the burning wreckage of the bus.

"Lois..." Superman said her name, but he wasn't sure what to say next. He was still trying to come to terms with what had happened. How could he have been so careless? How could he have allowed something so terrible to happen? He didn't have any answers.

"Go...just go." Lois replied. There was no emotion in her voice, no love, no hate...nothing. It was almost an automated response from a programmed machine.

Superman glanced at the crowd of people surrounding him. They were angry, and that anger was focussed squarely at him. He didn't know what to do. A tear rolled down his cheek as he looked over at the bus. Realising that if he stayed, the hostility could boil over into violence, Superman slowly began to rise into the air, heading away from the scene, his mind racing as he tried to figure out exactly what he should do.

The White House:

Lex Luthor, President of the United States, sat in the Oval Office, watching news reports of the incident in Metropolis. This was exactly what he had been waiting for, Public opinion was turning against Superman, the saviour of Metropolis had become a killer.

"Oh how a hero falls..." Lex muttered to himself, trying to hide a smile behind his face.

"Mr. President, how are we going to respond to this?" the Secretary of Defence asked, worried what could happen if Superman went rogue.

"Those people want blood...they want his blood. So we give it to them. I want Superman found and brought in...alive if possible...dead...well either way works for me."

Lex sat back in his chair, pondering the situation. He always knew that Superman would slip up sooner than later. The public would never condemn him for failing to stop a disaster. They knew that he couldn't be everywhere at once...but to cause one, to act in a way that resulted in people's death, especially children...Lex knew that the people, who loved Superman so much, would turn against him faster than a speeding bullet and never forgive him. The legacy of Superman would end with his death.


	2. Part 2

Lois Lane sat on her bed, head in her hands, sobbing. She wasn't sure what to think. None of it seemed real to her. A few hours ago, Lois and Clark were the happiest couple in Metropolis. She was married to worlds greatest hero and everything was going well. But now...now things had changed.

She felt a draft blow past her. Lois knew what it was, but she didn't want to look up, she didn't want to see him.

"Lois..." Clark called her name softly as he stood beside the bed in his familiar blue suit. "Lois look at me...talk to me...please."

"What am I supposed to say Clark?" Lois responded with a touch of anger, "What do you expect me to say? Do you know what you did today?"

"I didn't mean to...Lois you know I wouldn't..."

"But you did Clark. What the hell were you thinking?" Lois asked, her voice raised.

"I...I saw you...I needed to save you..." Clark began to reply.

"That's the problem Clark. You let your emotions take over and you lost control."

"It was an instant...half a second..."

"And now 12 children are dead...because of you Clark. Maybe it was a mistake...but that's all it takes. You're the most powerful being on the planet, you can't afford to make mistakes, you can't afford to lose control, even for a second. Now it's over. The world hates you Clark. They will never forgive you."

"What about you?" Clark asked, trying to keep the sorrow and pain he was feeling from boiling over.

"Your feelings for me caused you to lose control. I have to live with that forever, just as much as you do. I don't want to look at you, or talk to you...you have to leave Clark. I don't mean Metropolis...I mean this world. Superman has to die. You can either get in a ship and go to another world, or go back to Smallville and live as Clark Kent...frankly I don't care what you do. The world doesn't want Superman anymore...and neither do I."

Jedsithor Presents

SUPERMAN

Fall From Grace

Part 2

1938, Sullivan Lane - 3 hours later:

Lois was alone, still sitting on her bed. She wasn't crying anymore, she had run out of tears. Instead, she lit a cigarette, trying to hold it between her fingers, forcing herself to stop shaking. She had given up smoking a long time ago, but she needed something to calm her nerves, whatever the risks to her health.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door. Each tap on the wood sending a sharp pain to her skull, making the headache she had been suffering from since her car crashed even worse. Getting up, Lois left the bedroom and walked slowly to the front door, trying to shake off the dizzy feeling she was experiencing. Upon opening the door, she came face to face with a tall man, wearing a suit and a long grey trenchcoat.

"Let me guess...FBI right?" Lois commented.

"Agent Jim Tucker ma'am. I'm sorry to disturb you but I have reason to believe that Superman may have been in contact with you and I'm hoping you might be able to provide some information as to his whereabouts."

"Why would I know anything?" Lois asked, her mind waging an internal battle, trying to decide whether to give Clark up or not.

"You're Lois Lane. You know Superman better than anybody. We managed to track him on radar flying inland, but we lost him over Kansas. Can you think of anywhere he might have gone?" Tucker asked, trying to stay calm and in control, though in truth, he never imagined that he'd be charged with hunting Superman.

Lois didn't respond. She wasn't sure how to. If Clark had gone to Kansas, then there was only one place he could be, but Lois had to wonder, was it right to punish him, to hate him because of one tragic mistake?

"I'll ask you again," Tucker continued, "do you know where he is? However you may feel about Superman, we have orders to bring him in dead or alive. He has to be held accountable for his actions Miss Lane, just like everybody else...now where is he?"

Smallville:

"What am I going to do Mom?" Clark asked as he sat at the kitchen table, holding a glass of milk in his hands, "everyone hates me...they want me dead. I went by the Daily Planet and saw Mr. White ripping up the framed headlines about Superman. And Lois...she won't even look at me."

"Do you feel remorse for what happened?" Martha asked as she sat across from her son.

"Of course I do...it's killing me. I didn't mean for it to happen..."

"But it did." Martha cut in, "you're my son Clark and I love you...I'll stand by you no matter what...but you always talked about justice...about the right thing."

"Those people don't want justice Mom, they want blood. I saved three families in a burning apartment building yesterday. I didn't ask for praise or reward...I just wanted to help...that's all I've ever wanted. How did things get so messed up?"

"Clark...all of us have a responsibility...especially you. People are hurt, they feel betrayed. It may have been an accident, but you said yourself, you lost control. Everything you stand for, everything you believe in...it could all fall apart if you don't hold true to those values."

"What are you saying Mom?" Clark asked before taking a sip of milk from the glass.

"Maybe...maybe you should turn yourself in..." Martha suggested, even though it hurt her to think what could happen to her son.

Clark opened his mouth to respond, but as he was about to speak, his ears picked up a sound coming from outside the house. He began scanning with his eyes, looking through the walls, when suddenly, windows began to shatter, glass exploded everywhere as armed men climbed inside, pointing there weapons at Superman.

Acting quickly, Clark stepped in front of his mother to protector, his movement prompting one of the armed men to fire. Superman could see the bullet moving through the air towards him, but he ignored it, expecting the bullet to just bounce off him like so many before. But it didn't. The bullet tore through his shirt, impacting against his shoulder and cutting through his skin, causing him to grimace in pain. Clark knew instinctively...the bullet contained kryptonite. Not enough to cause any real damage, but enough to cause him pain and discomfort. It had taken an instant for the first bullet to pass from the gun into his shoulder and the others had reacted by opening fire as well.

Each bullet caused him more pain, weakening him a little, but he stood firm, taking hit after hit as he tried to decide whether or not to fight back. But the decision was made for him as the front door opened and Agent Tucker walked through.

"Cease fire immediately, I did not give the order to shoot," Tucker ordered as he reached into his pocket, taking out a small lead box.. "Mr. Kent...or would you prefer Superman...or Kal-El perhaps? Oh don't act so innocent, your girlfriend gave you up."

Clark studied Tuckers face, noticing that the agent was looking, not at him, but at the floor behind him. Turning his head Clark look down and saw Martha lying on her back, a bullet wound in the middle of her forehead. Clark listened, trying to pick up the sound of a heart beat, but there was nothing.

"You...you killed her...she did nothing to you...she didn't deserve this..." Clark spoke, turning back around, his eyes filled with rage, "which one of you pulled the trigger...who killed my mother?"

"Come now Kal-El, we both know she wasn't your mother...your mother died on Krypton...unless that was a lie." Tucker commented as he saw the anger building in Clark.

"Martha Kent raised me, she loved me as her son...she was my mother," Clark shouted back angrily as his eyes began to burn. In a flash he unleashed a blast of heat vision, then another and another, melting the weapons being pointed at him. One of the men moved towards him, but Clark reached out with his arm and caught him, throwing the man threw the wall and out of the house, slamming against the barn a hundred yards away.

He was losing control and he didn't care. A deep breath, an exhalation...a strong gust of air flowing from his lips, knocking three more of the men to the floor. Tucker though, remained calm, opening the lead box and removing a piece of green-coloured rock and extending his arm, holding the rock out as he walked towards Clark.

Clark fell to the floor, the kryptonite bullets still lodged within his body, coupled with the larger chunk now being held by Tucker, causing him to drift away, his eyes closing.

"Clark...Clark you have to wake up...please wake up..."

Clark opened his eyes, expecting to find the source of the female voice he'd heard. Instead he found himself in a dark room, surrounded by three masked men. He tried to move but found himself in chains. There was kryptonite everywhere, keeping him weak, keeping him down.

"Awake at last," one of the men sniggered, before kicking Clark in the stomach.

"The President has ordered your execution...but we want to have a little fun first" the second man answered before bending down and punching him in the face.

"To think I once looked up to you...but in the end, your nothing but an alien...a child killer...death is too good for you. " the third said as he stamped down on Superman's chest. "Better not fall asleep now...it's gonna be a long night."

The three men laughed as they began kicking and punching the Man of Steel and with Clark subdued by the kryptonite, he felt every blow.

"...and may God have mercy on your soul."

Superman stood on the platform, battered and bruised as the angry crowd continued to chant and shout profanities, throwing everything from fruit to rocks at him. The executioner stepped forward, holding a large syringe containing a liquid kryptonite solution. The needle pressed against Superman's skin, no longer tough and unbreakable.

As the needle pushed past the skin, the masked executioner pressed on the syringe, pushing out the kryptonite, into Superman's bloodstream. He felt the effects immediately. Pain racked his body as he felt his organs begin to shut down. It got harder and harder to breathe and he felt like his blood was on fire.

He cried out in agony as his heart began to fail, every inch of his body in tremendous pain. He began to convulse and shake uncontrollably, choking on his own tongue, his stomach being torn to shred, releasing it's acids which burned through his body. He screamed...and then there was nothing, only darkness.

He could no longer see anything, feel anything. There was just a lone voice in the dark calling his name...shouting at him.

"CLARK!!!"

Clark Kent opened his eyes and found that he was lying down. Above him the familiar faces of his beloved, Lois Lane and his friend and ally, Bruce Wayne, looked down at him, both of them breathing a sigh of relief.

Sitting up slowly, his body weak, Clark was confused. A moment ago he was in Metropolis, dying in front of an angry mob but now, suddenly, he was in the cave under Wayne Manor.

"What's going on?" he asked, finding that he was breathing heavily.

"Scarecrow," Bruce replied, you were infected by one of his toxins.

"No...I was in Metropolis..."

"It was a dream Clark...a nightmare brought on by Crane's poison." Lois cut in.

"But it was so real...so...so wrong." Clark said, his voice trembling.

"That's what Crane's toxin does...it forces you to play out your worst fears in your mind as it kills you," Bruce replied as he shut down the heart monitor that had been checking Clark's vital signs.

"I remember...you were chasing the Joker...Crane was there, I caught him but there was a dust...blown into my face." Clark spoke as his real memories returned to overshadow the fake ones that existed in the nightmare. "But it can't be...my immune system should have stopped the poison easily."

"Scarecrows powder was laced with kryptonite...your body has had to fight against the toxin just like a normal human being...no super immunity."

"And you did fight Clark...I knew you would...whatever you saw, it wasn't real...none of it was." Lois said, trying to comfort her husband who was still shaken up.

"But it was Lois...it was another reminder about how important it is for me to maintain control at all times...mistakes are a luxury I can't afford." Clark responded as he stood up, "What about Joker and Scarecrow?"

"I managed to find Scarecrow...he's in custody now, waiting to go back to the Asylum. But Joker is still out there." Bruce said as he reached for his cowl, putting it back over his head.

"Then let's go get him." Superman said with a smile.

"Are you sure?" Lois asked, "you have been through a lot."

"I'll be fine... a little sunlight and I'll be good to go. It's who I am Lois and it's what I do. I have a responsibility to the people in this world, and to myself...after all, I'm Superman." Clark replied with a smile.

"Yeah yeah, and I'm Batman...can we get on with this already?" Bruce cut in with a hint of sarcasm.

Lois watched as Batman raced through the long tunnel exit in his Batmobile, with her husband flying overhead. Allowing herself a little smile, Lois turned around and walked towards the large screen and control panel, in the centre of the cave, picking up the phone that linked to the house upstairs.

"Hi, Alfred...it's Lois...uh...how do I get out of this cave?"

THE END


End file.
